Get the feeling that everyone around you seems to be enjoying their new cars while you’re still stuck with the one you’ve had for plenty of years? Rest assured: you’re not alone in having such thoughts.
Of the 36 million cars registered in the UK, 20 per cent are seven to nine years old and 18 per cent are between 10 to 12. Astonishingly, almost a third (32 per cent) have already had their 12th birthdays. And at the other end
of the scale, just 15 per cent are less than three years old and the same amount again are between three and six.
Put another way, the majority (70 per cent) of cars on the road today are over or way beyond seven years old. Even more shockingly, those in the 12-plus age bracket represent by far the largest proportion on the road.
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In the main, members of the motoring majority are hanging onto well and truly used, battered and bruised cars due to the economics of life in the inflationary 2020s. The average new car this spring/summer reportedly costs around £44,000. So if a driver owns, say, a tired, high-mileage but still reliable and loved premium saloon that’s worth only £4,000 on the second-hand market, the prospect of he or she being able or willing to switch to an equivalent new car costing an extra 40 grand is highly unlikely, if not impossible, for their family finances. Thus, more tried and tested old cars are being kept on the road longer. And why not?
